Rumours
by orangepencils
Summary: An inside look at Howl and his reputation amongst the townsfolk. Just how did it really start?


Rumours

**Rumo****urs**

**215**

**Hello to all! No I have not yet perished. I just don't know what to write and can't find any motivation. I do have many things planned, I just never execute any of these ideas. **

**P.S in Canada, it is spelled rumours, in the States it is rumors. **

**Disclaimer: It's quite cold right now.**

**Summary: An inside look at Howl and his reputation amongst the townsfolk. Just how did it really start?**

**Edited: September 27****th**** 2008**

Rumours

Everything he ever did was for this one chance he had to escape everything and everyone. The truth was that he liked the solitude that his castle provided him. He felt secure and safe. Outside, everything and everyone was crazy. The kingdom was set on making wars, the people wanted his help for the most trivial of services and the ladies wanted anything and everything that they could get from him.

He didn't really mind the attention, especially when it came from the pretty ladies, but Howl preferred the quiet company of Calcifer and his castle. He had always been a shy youth and studying by himself in a small cottage certainly hadn't helped him overcome his shyness.

Once he had grown into a strapping young man and saw that the villagers always seemed to seek him out because of his many gifts and talents, he decided to come up with a plan and escape from everything and everyone.

The first thing he did was to build himself a castle. That hadn't proven to be very difficult, what with all the help that he got from his fiery friend. Once that task was out of the way, he made himself different aliases. That way, if he wanted to, he could abandon one personality while assuming the other. Again, this hadn't been very difficult. Sure, more people knew of his extraordinary talents, but once his third task would be done and over with, he would finally have the peace and quiet that he yearned for.

The third task consisted in building himself a reputation, and not just any old reputation at that. He made sure that everyone from children to old timers would know his name and would come to fear it or repulse it.

Of course, he wouldn't actually harm anyone for this. It was just a clever ruse from his part.

To scare the children off, he disguised himself as a middle aged woman and claimed to the town that Howl had kidnapped her child one night when the said child hadn't obeyed the rules. The response to that was a success! No longer did little children come to bother him anymore.

Next, the wizard tried his hand with the men and older generation. He disguised himself as a sailor who claimed to have seen only but a glimpse of the famous Howl and the next day, all of his great possessions were gone. No longer did men or any of the elders of the city dared approach him.

There was only one group of people to trick and then his clever plan would be done.

The younger female population seemed to be of a problem for dear Howl. He wanted to scare them off, but at the same time, he couldn't deny that he liked their company. And it was with that idea in mind that he found his perfect solution.

Once more he disguised himself, but this time as a pretty young lady, who one night, ran screaming in the town yelling that her heart had been eaten by the evil, but beautiful Howl. He said that, in her voice, that he had lured her and claimed her looks before capturing her heart and sending her back out once he was bored of her.

The ruse worked wonders and for a few months, Howl had all of the solitude that he wanted.

However, he never thought of what his marvellous plan could create as a side effect.

After a few months had gone by, the people of the town grew curious to see if such tales were true. Some of the elders remembered how kind Howl had been with them and couldn't believe that such a man had become so vicious and foul. Soon the tales of Howl became myth and were only used to scare people away. Some brave souls returned to Howl asking for his services.

However, the wizard still had his two personas to keep everything at bay. He wasn't necessarily pleased by the outcome, but he couldn't do much about it. The children saw him as a myth from a story book, the elders didn't know what to make of him and the women saw him as a flirt. Some of them would make up stories saying that they had met him, others would exaggerate their encounters with him.

In the end, Howl was left with even more attention than he had originally had.

All he had wanted to do was start a few rumours for his own personal gain.

**Owari**


End file.
